The present invention relates to vine fruit harvesters such as tomato harvesters. Tomato harvesters as such are well known. One harvester presently in wide use is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,193,020; 3,390,768.and 3,437,151 All prior art tomato harvesters generally provide a frame which mounts vine and fruit pickup, separating and handling equipment. The frame is carried by four conventionally arranged wheels which ride in furrows between seed beds.
Characteristically, tomato harvesters of the type disclosed in the referenced U.S. Patent have a high capacity, they may harvest as much as 60 tons of tomatoes an hour, and they are ideally suited for the geographic and climatic conditions found in many commercial tomato growing areas such as the central valleys of California, for example. There, tomatoes are grown in flat fields and the climatic conditions are such that during the tomato harvesting season no rainfall is encountered. Consequently, field irrigation can be controlled so that the furrows in which the wheels of the harvester operate are dry at harvest time. If the furrows were wet and muddy, serious problems can be encountered because the wet ground is often incapable of supporting the substantial weight of the harvesters.
There are areas, however, where tomatoes and similar vine crops are commercially grown which have neither the geographic nor the climatic conditions found in such areas as the central valleys of California. In many areas, such as the East Coast of the United States or certain Mediterranean countries, the ground is frequently inclined. Moreover, these areas experience summer rain so that the furrows, where rain water collects, become muddy and incapable of supporting the heavy weight of prior art tomato harvesters. Since tomato harvesters must be in an essentially horizontal lateral position, that is in a horizontal position in the direction transverse to the travel direction of the harvester, to prevent an undesired transverse rolling of tomatoes thereon and a resulting malfunctioning of the harvester, prior art harvesters are ill-equipped for use on ground with even relatively minor slopes. Moreover, the harvesters cannot be operated during or immediately following rainfall which greatly limits their usefulness in reasons where summer rainfall is encountered.
The relatively large size of prior art tomato harvester caused at least in part by their conventional four-wheel construction, with the wheel spacing dictated by the distance between adjacent seed bed (normally 5 to 6 feet), makes their shipment from the factory to the user expensive. Shipping expenses were particularly severe for overseas shipment since prior art harvesters were normally too bulky for shipment within standardized 8 foot by 8 foot ocean shipping containers.
There is, therefore, presently a need for a vine crop harvester capable of operating both on sloping and on wet fields. Furthermore, such a harvester should ideally be dimensioned so that it can be shipped in standard shipping costs for transporting the hargester from the manufacturer to the user.